House training for men

We've had Mrs Beeton's Book Of Household Management and Debrett's Etiquette And Modern Manners.

Now a new guide to keeping house and modern manners is proving an unlikely hit - among young men.

Hot on the heels of the trend for male makeover shows, such as Channel 4's Queer Eye For The Straight Guy, the new tome offers hundreds of hints on avoiding domestic horror and the disgust of prospective girlfriends.

Household Management For Men aims to root out their worst habits with the promise of a rippling physique and spiritual wellbeing.

Not only is housework "an aerobic exercise that allows you to flex your muscles and push your weight about at home without annoying people" but it also "saves time, creates order out of chaos - and makes you sexier", the book insists.

Step-by-step guides to domestic dos and don'ts include growing to "love your washing machine", understanding the mysteries of the household iron, "dressing a table", dealing with stains and carving a chicken for friends.

For those who don't know their crevice brush from their nozzle, Know Your Attachments provides a handy bit-by-bit guide to the vacuum cleaner.

"When becoming intimate with a vacuum cleaner, you will have to meet its various attachments," the book proclaims. "It's rather like the early stages of a new relationship. It's important to know who is who and who does what."

Once proper intimacy is achieved, the vacuum cleaner is to be hailed as a "fabulous" thing - whose use is like "driving a convertible indoors" and guaranteed to burn off calories per half-hour.

Meanwhile, among bedroom fauxpas are clipping toenails in bed and leaving it strewn with soggy towels.

Washing bed linen weekly, decluttering the closet and changing the duvet without a fight are among the top tips.

"Introducing someone to your inner space for the first time is an act of intimacy, not unlike allowing someone to take a peek inside your underwear drawer," the guide claims. "Imagine what they may find, what their first impression would be and whether they would ever fancy another look."

The worst fashion errors are also exposed - including wearing a belt with braces, white socks with dark shoes, and shiny trouser seats. Tips on mixing the perfect drink, buying the right kitchen implements and unblocking the loo are also covered in the book - which has already sold more than 50,000 copies in the UK - and there are dozens of charts laying out the daily, weekly and monthly chores.

Laurence Orbach, chief executive of publisher Quarto, said: "It's an attempt to civilise people of the wrong gender: men. One of our publishers, Nigel Browning, probably thought smelly underwear et cetera were not the best accoutrements for the seductive process.

"It's being translated into a host of other languages. Girls have been giving it to boyfriends because they don't want to stay at their pads.

"Men need civilising. Their animal instincts are running wild. It's the kind of book every mother should give her son before college and it wouldn't harm some older men."